ART-PRESENTATION: Erwin Wurm-Performative Sculptures

Erwin Wurm, Fat House, 2003, Iron, wood, polystyrene, aluminium, electrical installation, video on DVD, video projection (8:40, looped), speaker 540 x 1000 x 700 cm, Photo: Johannes Stoll, © Belvedere, Vienna / © Bildrecht, Vienna, 2017Erwin Wurm has been exploring the expressive possibilities of sculpture for over 35 years. As profound as it is ironic, his multifaceted body of work encompasses nearly all genres and extends the concept of sculpture via its interactive, social and temporal aspects. With his “Fat Sculptures”, middle-class status symbols like cars or single-family homes , the sculptor delivers snappy and striking commentary on today’s consumer society.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: 21er Haus Archive

Erwin Wurm presents his series of “Performative Sculptures” at the 21er Haus. The artist redefines the social and temporal dimensions of sculpture by turning action into sculpture. While the sculptor separates his own artistic authorship from the implementation of these works, these two elements are brought closely back together. In the early 1990s, Erwin Wurm began developing a completely new form of artistic expression with his “Performative Sculptures”. Since 2011, the artist has been working intensively on this series of works, which are comprehensively presented at the 21er Haus for the first time. A majority of the 54 artworks have been developed especially for this exhibition. In this series, Wurm is attacking models or raw blocks of clay and deforming them by either physical exertion alone or other external means. Afterwards, the artist often casts the abused models in either bronze, aluminium, iron, or polyester resin, and then paints them either in color or with an applied patina. Tension arises in the dialogue between the original form of objects and the traces left by the performative interventions, which turn the body into the material and the medium of action. In the “House Attack” series, the sculptor attacks models of buildings, some recognizable and some unknown, but all of which he has a personal connection to. For example, he lays himself on his parents’ home and deforms it by his body weight, jumps to the Narrenturm (an old insane asylum in Vienna), digs a hole in the high-security Stammheim prison in Germany, or kicks at a German bunker. By abusing different types of buildings with an intent akin to corporal punishment, the act of destruction becomes a rebellion against adaptation and regulation. The point of departure for a further series, called “Beat and Treat”, is a raw, industrial block of clay that the artist uses to vent his furies. Two additional subgroups of Performative Sculptures are Furniture and Objects. In Furniture, Wurm focuses on pieces of furniture such as a sofa, an armchair, a recliner, a chest of drawers, or a refrigerator. In Objects, his focus ranges from things like a soap dispenser or a wall clock, to a mobile phone, a measuring tape, or a pistol. Also the southern end of the Upper Belvedere hosts “Fat House” (2003), which was acquired for the Belvedere collection in 2016. The obese house contains a video projection in which the very same swollen building argues with itself and poses existential questions to the incoming visitor.

Info: Curators: Severin Dünser and Alfred Weidinger, 21er Haus Museum of Contemporary Art, Quartier Belvedere Arsenalstraße 1, Vienna, Duration: 2/6-10/9/17, Days & Hours:  Wed & Fri 11:00-21:00, Thu 7 Sat-Sun 11:00-18:00, www.21erhaus.at

Erwin Wurm, Performative Sculptures, Exhibition View, Photo: Johannes Stoll, © Belvedere-Vienna
Erwin Wurm, Performative Sculptures, Exhibition View, Photo: Johannes Stoll, © Belvedere-Vienna

 

 

Erwin Wurm, House Attack, Performance, 2012, © Gerald Y. Plattner, , 21er Haus Museum of Contemporary Art Archive
Erwin Wurm, House Attack, Performance, 2012, © Gerald Y. Plattner, 21er Haus Museum of Contemporary Art Archive

 

 

Erwin Wurm, House Attack, Performance, 2012, © Gerald Y. Plattner, , 21er Haus Museum of Contemporary Art Archive
Erwin Wurm, House Attack, Performance, 2012, © Gerald Y. Plattner, 21er Haus Museum of Contemporary Art Archive

 

 

Erwin Wurm, House Attack, Performance, 2012, © Gerald Y. Plattner, , 21er Haus Museum of Contemporary Art Archive
Erwin Wurm, House Attack, Performance, 2012, © Gerald Y. Plattner, 21er Haus Museum of Contemporary Art Archive

 

 

Erwin Wurm, House Attack, Performance, 2012, © Gerald Y. Plattner, , 21er Haus Museum of Contemporary Art Archive
Erwin Wurm, House Attack, Performance, 2012, © Gerald Y. Plattner, 21er Haus Museum of Contemporary Art Archive

 

 

Erwin Wurm, Performative Sculptures, Exhibition View, Photo: Johannes Stoll, © Belvedere-Vienna
Erwin Wurm, Performative Sculptures, Exhibition View, Photo: Johannes Stoll, © Belvedere-Vienna

 

 

Left: Erwin Wurm, Performative Sculptures, Exhibition View, Photo: Johannes Stoll, © Belvedere-Vienna. Right: Erwin Wurm, Diverge, 2012, Bronze, patinized 57 x 96 cm, Courtesy Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, © Belvedere, Vienna (Photo: Johannes Stoll), © Bildrecht, Vienna, 2017
Left: Erwin Wurm, Performative Sculptures, Exhibition View, Photo: Johannes Stoll, © Belvedere-Vienna. Right: Erwin Wurm, Diverge, 2012, Bronze, patinized 57 x 96 cm, Courtesy Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, © Belvedere, Vienna (Photo: Johannes Stoll), © Bildrecht, Vienna, 2017

 

 

Erwin Wurm, Fat House, 2003, Iron, wood, polystyrene, aluminium, electrical installation, video on DVD, video projection (8:40, looped), speaker 540 x 1000 x 700 cm, Photo: Johannes Stoll, © Belvedere, Vienna / © Bildrecht, Vienna, 2017
Erwin Wurm, Fat House, 2003, Iron, wood, polystyrene, aluminium, electrical installation, video on DVD, video projection (8:40, looped), speaker 540 x 1000 x 700 cm, Photo: Johannes Stoll, © Belvedere, Vienna / © Bildrecht, Vienna, 2017

 

 

Κράτα το

Κράτα το